Man sentenced to life in deadly 2008 Sikh festival shooting

Amandeep Singh Dhami, who fled the country for five years after a broad-daylight shooting at a south county Sikh temple in 2008, was sentenced Friday in Sacramento Superior Court to life in state prison.

Dhami was charged in the Aug. 31, 2008, slaying of rival Parmjit Pamma Singh, 26, and wounding Sahibjeet Singh, one of Parmjit Singh’s lieutenants, at a daytime sports festival at a Bradshaw Road temple. Dhami escaped and fled to India, where he eluded U.S. authorities for five years before he was extradited to California in 2013 to face charges of second-degree murder and attempted murder.

A Sacramento Superior Court jury in June convicted Dhami of the charges. On Friday, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Richard Sueyoshi sentenced Dhami to 82 years to life in state prison in Parmjit Singh’s shooting death.

Prosecutors at trial said Dhami and armed sidekick Gurpreet Gosal sought out Parmjit Singh and his men at the festival grounds as payback for a tussle with members of Singh’s crew at a San Jose nightclub days earlier. The fight had been the latest in a long-standing feud between the rival camps, prosecutors said.

At his trial, prosecutors depicted Dhami as a low-level, but violent, gangster who boasted of his exploits in rhymes and on social media where his moniker was “Mista Killafornia.”

Prosecutors at trial said Dhami and Gosal – who flew into Sacramento the night before the fatal confrontation – were armed with three handguns and about 250 rounds of ammunition when they climbed out of their Lincoln Navigator in the festival’s parking lot. Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz called Dhami “a hardcore gangster armed for war.”

Dhami took the stand at trial, testifying that he and Gosal went to the festival to mend fences after the incident at the San Jose nightclub, but were armed in case of an ambush. Dhami said he envisioned a meeting of “two gangsters who could work things out,” before shots rang out.

Gosal, now serving 25 years to life for second-degree murder in the shooting, fled with Dhami in the ensuing chaos, but was quickly captured.